A report of the Germanwatch institute, presented at the latest UN conference on climate that took place in Lima, gave Bulgaria and Poland as bad examples in Europe in terms of their policies related to combating climate change. "Bulgaria is politically unstable, with constantly changing governments. Climate policy is never a priority," Germanwatch writes. Its report and the European Network for Climate Action (CAN Europe) have examined the 58 largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world and it turns out nearly 90% of all carbon emissions come from the energy sector. Denmark was pointed out as a good example and Australia was cited as the worst performing industrial country, taking the place of Canada. Bulgaria occupies the 41st place in the chart, placing immediately after Poland.

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A decree that aims to increase by 5 percent the area of protected forests is this country is yet to be approved by the Council of Ministers. These are forests, which play an important role in the formation of water resources, stop the erosion in the mountains, and prevent floods. Felling in these forests will be extremely limited. The plan is for 17 500 hectares of forests to be placed under protection. "This measure is also related with the floods in recent months," said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Georgi Kostov. To illustrate the importance of these forests he gave an example with the largest Bulgarian dam – “Iskar” near Sofia. When the dam was created in 1956, a total of 35,000 hectares of forests were also planted. The engineers who built the dam estimated that without these forests the dam would have become filled with sediment within 50 years. Thanks to tree planting sedimentation was reduced 10-fold.

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In the second half of November the preparation of stocking the Bulgarian section of the Danube with sturgeon started. Unlike similar stocking of sturgeon in the past, this time the fish are genetically pure, and have proven Danube origin, Stoyan Mihov, head of environmental activities in WWF Bulgaria says. He adds that hybridization is a big problem for the survival of endangered species. To have a chance for orientation and surviving in the river, sturgeon must be grown in near-natural conditions. Acipeser ruthenus is one of six sturgeon species that once lived in the Danube and does not migrate to the Black Sea. This is also the smallest sturgeon - reaching over one meter in length. Unlike other sturgeon, it is the least endangered species. Other sturgeon like Acipenser gueldensteadti and starry sturgeon Acipenser stellatus are critically endangered.

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A year after five bison imported from Germany were settled in the Eastern Rhodopes, only two of them survived. The youngest three animals died most likely due to the stress of their transportation. These largest herbivores in Europe, that once inhabited the region, cannot be seen any more in Bulgarian mountains. The adaptation of the two bison in this beautiful area proves that wildlife can return, experts working on the "Wildlife of the Eastern Rhodopes" project, supported by the "New Thracian Gold” foundation said. The animals have also caused great tourist interest.

English: Alexander Markov